In the art of magnetic resonance imaging it is known to employ radio frequency coils for transmitting radio frequency energy to nuclei under test for resonant excitation of the nuclei, as well as for receiving radio frequency energy generated by the nuclei after excitation. The transmitted or received radio frequency energy has a frequency that coincides with the Larmor frequency, which is known in the art to be determined by a local magnetic field strength of the magnetic resonance imaging system and the species of nuclei under investigation. For transmitting and receiving purposes, the radio frequency coils comprise resonant circuits having combinations of capacitors and inductors that are substantially tuned to the Larmor frequency.
For improved signal to noise ratio, it is known in the art to make use of local radio frequency coils that can be located proximal to a region of interest.
For these purposes, it is desirable to have a radio frequency coil of compact design that is easy to manufacture.
The US-patent application US2008/0143333 discloses an array antenna for MR applications. The known array antenna has multiple conductor loops of loop segments that are capacitively coupled as conductor traces of a circuit board.